A Taste of Darkness
by Super Metal Sonic
Summary: After the defeat of Red. Spyro and his freinds find themselves in thier dangerous quest yet. Involeing a magic Gem and our hero facing his darkness.
1. Chapter 1

**Super Metal Sonic: **All right, my first Spyro fic. I hope all you like.

* * *

**A Taste of Darkness**

Four months after the defeat of Red. The Dragon Worlds were celebrating the Festival of Elders, a two weeklong celebration for an ancient legend.

"Hey Spyro, what is this legend the dragons are celebrating?" Hunter asked Spyro,

"The legend is called The Heart of Zyrax," Spyro replied, Gildas then approached Spyro and his friends, "Spyro, what are you doing," Gildas asked,

"I was just about to tell Hunter and the others about the Heart of Zyrax, Gildas" Spyro answered.

"Ah yes. Well, allow me to help tell the story. Gildas said as he sat down to join in with the young dragon and his friends' activities.

"Long ago, five thousand years before dragons were banished from the Forgotten Worlds, there lived a dragon wizard called Zyrax. He was said to have been more powerful then all the wizards in his realm" Spyro begin, his voice filled with excitement as it always does whenever he thinks about the legend.

"So what did he do that made him a legend?" Blink asked,

"Back then, dragons were at war with each other, Beast Makers fought Magic Crafters and Peace Keepers fought Dream Weavers" Gildas replied, "Then, on this very day all those years ago, Zyrax stood between the warring dragons and using his magic, stopped them fighting and solved the problems that started the wars".

"Zyrax then untied the dragons and became the first Dragon Elder. And so, every year, when the red star that appeared during Zyrax coronation shines for two week; we celebrate with this festival" Spyro finished.

"What's the part of the Heart of Zyrax about then?" Hunter asked,

"The legend continues to tell; that shortly before his death, Zyrax turned his heart and his powers into a gem stone, were he then hid it so no one could use it to undo what he had done" Gildas said, "And now, let us return to the celebrations".

So Spyro and his friends returned to the festivities, not knowing what significant the legend will have in their lives.

The Bloodthunder Mountains are the most dangerous in the Dragon worlds. Thunder storms, rock slides and ice makes the mountains too dangerous for even yetis and dragons to live on, and yet people were indeed working on the mountains.

The creatures could be called gnorcs, but only by someone who never seen a gnorc before. Their large builds were matching that of Gnasty Gnorc's, with their muscles like beads on a st

"FASTER, YOU LAZY PILES OF GNORC DUNG!"

The beast turned as they heard the thuds of heavy footsteps approaching.

"I swear by my Chem, gnorcs would be a better then using these sakorcs" the voice boomed, drowning out the sound of everything around it.

The sakorcs cowered as a golem strode towards them. The golem, a being of clay, stood at 12 ft in height, clenching fists like sledgehammers in anger.

"The master wants it found now, while the red star is still in its aliment," the golem said, facing the sakorc's leader,

"Do not fear, Lord Korsporer," the sakorc leader said, "my men shall find the gem".

"Master! Master!" one of the sakorcs suddenly cried out, "Skr found it! Skr find!"

Korsporer stomped towards the sakorc apparently called Skr to see it standing beside a stone tablet and began to examine it,

"I shall tell the master we've found it" Korsporer finally said,

"No need, I am already here"

Korsporer turned; walking towards him was a dragon wizard. It was hard to describe the sorcerer as he was hidden with a number of robes.

"Master-" Korsporer began but was stopped by the wizard,

"Silence," the dragon said as he strode to the tablet, he then placed a clawed hand on the tablet as he examined it.

"Yes, this is it. At last, after eight hundred years of searching, I've found the Heart of Zyrax"

At this, the wall next to the tablet opened to reveal a temple like corroder.

Eyes belonging to dragon, sakorc and golem peered into the gloom of the hallway.

"Bruticus" the dragon mage eventually said,

"Yes, my lord? The sakorc leader replied,

"Send one of the sakorcs to retrieve the gem"

Bruticus then pointed at one of the sakorcs, motioning for it to go through the corridor.

A minute after the sakorc entered the temple and disappeared into the darkness a blood-culturing scream was heard before it abruptly finished.

"It would appear," Korsporer unemotionally said, "that the Heart is well protected"

"Yes," the dragon slowly said, "it is just as the tablet says then. Only a hero can make it through the traps and reach the Heart gem"

"I shall send my men to complete this task," Bruticus suggested, hoping to win favour with his master,

"The entrance will close when the red star moves out of it aliment within the next two weeks, how will we find this hero in time?" Korsporer asked,

After a moment of silence, the Dragon wizard answered, "We shall perform the Rite of AshkEnte"

"My master, is that wise?" Korsporer asked, "To summon…Him?"

"He will have the answers we seek" the dragon wizard said as he began the preparations for the ritual. A smirk appeared on the mage's mouth as he thought about all those wizards used skulls and magic candles to cast the Rite of AshkEnte, when he proved that the spell can easily be done with three sticks and four cc of mouse blood.

The air in the centre of the magic circle shimmered and thickened, and suddenly contained a tall, dark figure. Most of it was hidden by black rode and hood; it held a long scythe in one skeletal hand.

**WELL?** a voice as deep and heavy as lead lids closing, **WHAT DO YOU WANT?**

Death raised his head. His skull was frozen in a permanent grin; his empty eye sockets glowed with a bright blue light.

"I need to know who is the hero that can get to the Heart of Zyrax?" the dragon asked,

**THERE IS ONLY ONE HERO THAT I CAN THINK OF.** Death answered **SPYRO THE DRAGON.**

"I've heard of him, master" Bruticus commented, "He has beaten many foes, including the falling Elder Red"

**YES.** Death replied **AND TO ANSWER YOUR INEVITABLE QUESTION, YOU WILL FIND HIM IN THE ARTISAN HOME WORLD.**

"Very well, I send back to your domain" the dragon wizard said. Death never took his eye off the dragon as he faded away.

"Shall I go and retrieve him?" Korsporer asked, bowing slightly,

"No need," the dragon said, "I've got the perfect spell to use".

Meanwhile, in the Artisan home world. Spyro was returning home,

"What a night huh Sparks?" Spyro said to his Dragonfly companion,

"Yeah and tomorrow is probably going to be just as great" Sparks replied in his kazoo sounding voice,

"Well good night Sparx"

"Night, Spyro" with that the two friends went to their beds and fell asleep.

The dragon wizard looked up from the piece of parchment he was writing on to the immobile form of Korsporer and smiled.

It was amazing how a scroll of parchment with holy words written on them can be used to bring a pile of sculptured and beaked clay to life. And how simple it is, by means of adding to the parchment or Chem as the golems call it, to give the golem new orders.

As the top of Korsporer's head is place back on with a click of pottery, the two hollow holes that made the golem's eyes flared with a fiery light,

"Do you understand your new orders?" the wizard asked,

Korsporer nodded, "Yes master"

"Then go" the dragon wizard said and turned to his spell book and then began to chant the words of a spell.

Korsporer watched as his master begins to decay right before his eyes. The flesh rotting off the dragon's bone, soon the body crumbled into dust as a dark shadow arose and soared towards the Dragon worlds.

The golem looked at the dust that was his master and then left the words, "I shall await your return".

Spyro slept, oblivious to the shadow that entered his house. As the shadow reached Spyro, it paused as if it was watching the sleeping dragon and then wrapped it self around Spyro and absorb into him.

Spyro then opened his eyes, yet the eyes did not belong to him. They were filled with evil and malice.

"The first part of my plan is almost complete" Spyro said, as he left the house, laughing coldly.

To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

**SMS: **sorry it took so long, I had trouble getting time to write it.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything except the characters I made up.

**A Taste of Darkness Chapter 2**

Red was not in a good mood. For four months now, he has been trapped in a glass jar, shrunk to the size of a baseball. Red glared angrily at the dark lab, nighttime in the lab was always quiet, and began to mutter darkly about what he was going to do to everyone that he blamed for his predicament, from Spyro to Gnasty Gnorc, and in a very graphic and painful detail.

Light entered the lab as a door is opened,

"Come to gloat?" Red said sourly as he recognized the dragon that entered through the door.

"So this is the fearsome Red, the fallen dragon Elder. I can't say I'm impressed"

Red blinked, unable to believe what he heard. Though he knew the dragon in front of him was Spyro, his voice was not. The voice though still that of a young dragon seemed to sound more mature, it was also full with a cold, evil tone Red use himself.

"Your not Spyro W-who are you?" Red stammered,

"Now's not the time" Spyro said, waging a claw. The purple dragon then picked Red's jar up and carried it out of the lab.

"Spyrroooo! Where are you?" Sparx yelled out. After waking up and finding Spyro missing, Sparx immediately began searching everywhere for him.

"Sparx, what's going on?"

Sparx turned round to see Hunter and the others,

"Hunter! It' Spyro! He's gone!" Sparx yelled, his kazoo like voice barely understandable.,

"What?" Blink asked,

"Me and Spyro went to sleep and the first thing I know, he's not there when I woke up"

"That is quite a quandary." Bently said, suddenly, the Professor came running up to the group and yelled "Red's gone! Someone stole Red's jar from my lab!"

"I know! Maybe a Rynorc did it," Agent 9 said, "ooo, just wait till I get my gun aimed at him".

"Don't we have anything we could use to find out what happened?"" Hunter asked,

"well… I do have security camras in the lab, we could use them to find out who took Red" the Professor said.

In the Professor's lab, the heroes of Avalar, the Forgotten worlds and the Dragon worlds crowded around a monitor and watched the screen in disbelief of the identity of Red's liberator.

"This can't be true," Hunter said, "it can't!"

"I'm afraid it is. It seems that Spyro has taken Red for some purpose, and I don't think it is for any good" the Professor said gravely.

"If only we could hear what they were saying" Blink said,

"I'm sorry about that, I've been meaning to get audio for the cameras for sometime now"

"Well we know they're not in the town, so let's check with the Balloonist to see if he talked to Spyro" Hunter said, taking charge. Hurrying to the port, Hunter and the others found the Balloonist talking to Moneybags,

"Marco!" Hunter said, running up to the Balloonist, "have you seen Spyro?"

"Sorry Hunter," Marco answered. "I haven't seen Spyro for awhile"

"err… actually," Moneybags piped up, "I've seen Spyro"

"What!"

"Um… yes. He wanted access to the Bloodthunder Mountains, so I gave him the key to the gates"

"The Bloodthunder Mountains are the most dangerous mountains in the worlds!" Bianca yelled at Moneybags "and you sold him the key that will let him go there!"

"No, err… I gave him it for free," Moneybags replied, "There was something about the stare he gave me, that refrained me from asking for a fee"

"Did he have a jar with him?" Blink asked

"Yes, now that you mention it, he had jar hang around his neck".

Spyro had no idea where he was. Everything seemed familiar to him, but it wasn't.

"Where the hell am I?" he said.

As he continued to travel through the strange world, Spyro came across what looked like Gnasty's world with statues of Red, Ripto, the Sorceress and Gnasty Gnorc.

"Greetings, you've finally arrived ",

Turning to the voice, Spyro saw what looked like a dragon completely made of shadows, sitting on a towering throne,

"Who are you? What is this place?" Spyro said,

"Ahh… there's that inquisitive nature I heard so much about" the shadow said, "first of all, I am Darkbane Scalefire and this…" he wave a clawed hand to the world around them, "is the mental representation of your mind."

"If this is my mind" Spyro replied "then why are you here?"

Rising from the throne, Darkbane answered "For decades, I've been searching for the legendary heart of Zyrax. And now I've found it's resting place. However, only a hero is able to enter and survive past the traps. Through my spells, not only did I find you as the best for the task but I have complete control over your body"

"What spell?"

"The Spell of Ultimate Merger. Deemed forbidden by the high council of magic, only one copy of the incantation still exists, while the rest were destroyed. Basically my mind, will, soul, all that is me, is placed in your body while your mind is locked within your subconscious."

Spyro watched as Darkbane walked towards him, with each step Shadow became more solid.

"Do you think you can get away with this?" Spyro asked, "me and my friends have fought villains like you dozens of times. As soon as they find out, my friends are going foil your plans and kick your tail across the realms" he finished with a smirk.

At last Spyro could see Darkbane as he is. He was about the same height as Red, green scales covered his lean yet muscular frame. Black marking surrounded his cold, ice blue eyes and joining to form a strip down his back. His horns and head was similar to Spyro's, another two stumpy horns protruded from his top lip.

A cruel smile crossed Darkbane's lips as he said, "Even if they ruin my plans, it will be too late to save you"

"What do you mean? Spyro asked

" There was a reason the magic council forbid this spell," Darkbane answered, "the spell of ultimate merger joins the two souls into one. Even as we speak, our minds, our personalities, our souls are melding and once it is complete, there's no way to reverse it".

Red continued to study Spyro, or rather Darkbane.

He had explained who he was and what he's after, but if Darkbane is so powerful, then why did he free Red,

"Tell me" Red said, "why I'm I here, your as powerful as me, if not more. So why need me?"

"Zyrax was one of the most powerful wizard ever known. Even with my powers and combined with Spyro's stamina and speed, the traps may be too much for me alone" Darkbane replied,

"I see", Red said, stretching his wings, "while I appreciate you freeing me. Why should I help you rule the world?"

As if to answer him, the sound of marching reached Red's ears. Looking towards the horizon, Red saw an army of orc like creatures approaching.

"Ah, I see the sakorcs has arrived" Darkbane said, walking towards the army

"Greetings my lord" the largest of sakorcs said, "your form may have changed, but I recognize your voice"

"Bruticus, the years I spent teaching you have been worth while" the purple dragon said, "has korsporer begun his task?"

"Yes, lord"

"What task?" Red asked,

"I sent… a messenger to retrieve a certain sorcerer that has a grudge against Spyro and his friends" Darkbane answered, "he will be joining us later. That is _if_ you'll work for me"

Red glanced at the surrounding sakorcs. Each one was as tall as Gnasty Gnorce and among the mismatched scraps of armour where skulls and various other bone. He knew that no is an answer that wouldn't let him live.

"Alright, you win, I'll help you. But when they find out that I escaped, Spyro's friends will come after us"

"Not a problem" Darkbane replied, turning to a number of sakorcs, "you three, kill anyone who follows"

With a series of grunts and snarls, the indicted sakorcs lumbered down the way Red and Darkbane came,

"Are you sure they are enough?" Red said

"While they are not as smart or civilised as Gnorcs, the average sakorc is three times stronger and more ferocious then four Gnorc"

"Are you sure this the right way?" Agent 9 asked, Hunter shook his head, as soon as they found out where Spyro was heading, he, Agent 9, Blink and Bianca set off after him while the others stayed with the Professor,

"It's hard to say, even with this map Moneybags gave us"

"I wish Spyro was here" Sparx said, his antenna drooping.

"Don't worry Sparx" Bianca said, patting Sparx on the back, "we'll find him"

"Okay guys" Hunter said, folding the map and pointing towards a path, "let's head that way"

Blink then stopped, "hey… do you hear something?" Blink asked.

Suddenly three large beasts appeared from behind rocks and charged towards Hunter and the others.

"Who are they?"

"No idea, but they sure aren't friendly" Hunter said as he fired an arrow at one of the sakorcs.

One of the Sakorcs lifted a large, crude axe up above it's head and swung it at Agent 9, who jumped back and fired six shots into the sakorc's face.

Blink and Bianca ducked and dodged as a second sakorc tried to crush them with a club. Blink fired shot after shot at the beast as Bianca tried to zap it with a spell, until a blow from the club knocked them back.

The sakorc's flesh was covered in scorched marks as it stomped towards them with a ground trembling roar. As Blink and Bianca braced for the coming blow, a whooshing sound was heard followed by something hitting the ground. Opening their eyes, they saw the sakorc on the ground with an arrow through its neck.

"You guys alright?" Hunter asked,

"Yeah" Blink replied, "just got the wind knocked out of us"

Suddenly, the remaining sakorc appeared right behind Hunter and brought down its axe. Before anyone could react, there was a blinding light and when everyone could see again, the sakorc had turned into a crystal statue with the axe inches away from Hunter's head.

"You should never turn your back on a sakorc, unless you're sure it won't be getting up"

Turning to face the new voice, they saw that Hunter's saviour was none other then Gnasty Gnorc,

"Still, I must admit I'm impressed, not everyone can say they took down a sakorc let alone two"

"What are you doing here?" Bianca said,

"My minions told me that sakorcs have been seen entering the Bloodthunder Mountains, so I came to find out why" Gnasty replied

"Why the interest in these guys" Hunter asked

"They evolved from the same species as Gnorcs. However while us Gnorcs became… civilised, the sakorcs remained the same. That made them hostile towards us"

"To think," Sparx buzzed, "saved by Gnasty Gnorc"

Looking up as if just noticing Sprax, Gnasty then said, "Ah yes, that reminds me. Perhaps you lot can tell me why I discovered, Spyro cavorting with sakorc and Red"

At this Hunter and the others nearly yelled,

"You saw Spyro, where? How long ago?"

"Not long, but I want answers"

Hunter then told Gnasty what had happened,

"I see" Gnasty said, rubbing his chin, "very well. I'll come with you, to see what the sakorc's involvement with this is"

"So which way do we go?" Agent 9 asked,

"Follow me".

Red looked up at the large doorway. The sakrocs had left him and Darkbane to head to the meeting point.

"So this is where the Heart of Zyrax rest" Red said, partly to himself,

"Yes" Darkbane said, "And with it I will have the power to rule all of the Realms".

**To be continued**

please review


	3. Chapter 3

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed (and Half Dragon Half Human for adding this story to his favourites) and also apolgise for the loung delay.**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything except the characters I made up.

**A Taste of Darkness Chapter 3**

When the thing smashed through the wall, the first thing Ripto thought about doing was to call Crush and Gulp to attack whatever it was.

"Crash! Gulp! Get rid of that thing!" He yelled, pointing at the shape hidden by the dust clouds. The two large dinosaurs charged at the intruder, but were thrown across the room as if they weigh nothing. As the intruder stepped into sight, Ripto saw that it was a clay golem, roughly made into the shape of a large man, the head was a just a raised lump with two holes for eyes in it. The golem raised one of its sledgehammer sized hands and pointed towards the short riptoc with one of its three fingers.

"Ripto" the golem said, despite the fact that it didn't have mouth, "my master has summoned you to join him in his plans to conquer the world",

"Thanks for the offer," Ripto said, "but if anyone is going to rule the world, it's going to be me!" he then fired a fireball at the golem, hitting it in the chest and engulfing it in flames.

Ripto began to laugh, but it died in his throat as the he saw the golem stomped through the flame, its body glowing red-hot.

"My master's request is not one to be refused" the golem stated as if nothing had happened. Ripto stumbled back as the golem closed in on him, "You will come with me or you will be crushed" it said, reaching for Ripto's head.

"Okay, you win I'll go see your master!" Ripto yelled, waving his hands in surrender. The golem stopped and said, "Very well, follow with me, you can bring those two minion for yours with you".

Having followed the Sakorcs' tracks with the help of Gnasty Gnorc, Hunter and the others reached the entrance of a large temple like cave. After reading the writing on the stone tablet, Bianca said, "According to this, inside the cave is the Heart of Zyrax,"

"But I thought it was just a legend" Gnasty said, trying to read the stone tablet himself,

"Apparently not," Hunter said, "if this is where Spyro is, then we're going in"

"Enjoying the experience?"

Spyro turned as he heard Darkbane voice. The Dragon wizard was sitting down, a causal look about and cunning grin across his face.

"What makes you think that?" Spyro snapped back, mad at the fact that he's trapped inside his own mind,

"Spyro, Spyro. Thanks to my spell, I can feel you emotions and know all your memories. I know you dreamed of finding the Heart of Zyrax. Every time you hear the story, your heartbeat races. Soon the Heart will be ours, take some pride in that." Darkbane then made a gesturer with his hand and an image appeared out of thin air, "You can watch through here if you're interested."

Spyro, realising that the images were what his body's eyes were seeing, turned to look.

After evading a number of traps Hunter and the other came across two large stone doors, "Which way do we go?" Blink asked. Before anyone could answer, two giant dragons made out of stone, emerged from a shadowed corner and stood before them.

"Halt! We are the stone guardians of the temple's inner sanctum!" the larger of the two stone said,

"To enter you must choose one of the two doors," the other said, "One leads to the Heart of Zyrax without risk of traps, while the other leads trough a path of deadly traps."

"How do we know what door to take?" Hunter asked,

"You can ask us one question, however one of us will always lies and one always tell the truth."

"That's pretty unoriginal" Gnasty said,

"We just do what we're told to do, we don't think them up" one of the stone dragon said defensively. Hunter tried to think what to do, when he suddenly got idea, pointing at the larger of the two stone dragons, he said, "If the other dragon told me that the door on the right is the safe path, would he be telling the truth?"

After a while, the Stone dragon said, "No, he wouldn't"

"Then that means the door to the left is the safe route"

"How do you figure that?" the stone dragon asks,

"Well, if you are telling the truth then that means he's lying about the right path being safe while if your lying then that still means the right path is dangerous" Hunter answered. As the two stone guards tried to work it out, Hunter turn the others, all of whom are surprised at the logic Hunter used and said, "I read something like this in a book once".

"Very well then" The Stone dragons said eventually said, "You may pass." The left door then slowly open and the heroes went through.

As the stone door closed after Hunter and the heroes, the two stone dragons walked towards the dark corner they appeared from and sat down by a crudely made stone table and pick up a number of cards,

"Now, where were we?" the larger dragon said, "oh yes I was just asking if you had any three?"

"How long do you think they'll last before they get killed?" the other stone dragon asked,

"Oh, I'll say about the same time they realise that both of us were lying."

**To be continued**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything except the characters I made up.

**A Taste of Darkness Chapter 4**

Hunter and the others walked down the hallway when suddenly a large axe swung past them, just missing all of them by an inch and burying itself into a wall.

"I thought those stone dragons said that this path didn't have any traps!" Hunter said, Gnasty tapped a clawed finger on a set of craved rune on a nearby wall and said, "Roughly translated, these runes say, "As if some one would build a temple part without any traps".

"What is that suppose to mean?" Agent 9 asked

"I believe it means that the two stone dragons we saw back there were lying about there being a path without any traps." Gnasty replied,

"Well I guess that the last time I use an idea I get from a book." Hunter said sheepishly.

Darkbane and Red continued to walk towards their objective. Suddenly Darkbane thrust a hand in front of Red, stopping him in his tracks.

"We are nearly at our destination," Darkbane said "so that will mean the most deadly traps will be waiting for us, be on your guard or your next mistake will be your last."

Red opened his mouth to speak, when Darkbane rushed down the corridor, jumping form one tile to the next, "Step only of the tiles with the dragon markings".

Looking down Red saw that the floor was indeed covered in tiles with a different animal carved on it. After crossing the path, Drakbane picked up a small stone and tossed it onto a tile with a griffin carved on it. A large stone slab drops from the ceiling and smashed into the floor.

Red blinked to try and hid his shock, turning to face Darkbane he saw the purple dragon had a cruel grin on his face as if he just made a point.

"Just to remind you to watch your step" Darkbane said and continued down the corridor as if nothing happened.

A short while later, the two villains reach the Inner Sanctum and resting on the alter in the centre of the room was a red gem the size and shape of a dragon heart.

"At last." Darkbane said, his voice full of barely concealed excitement, "the Heart of Zyrax is mine!"

Darkbane then rose to stand on his two hind legs, if Spyro was still in control of his body he would have had trouble keeping his balance but Darkbane had no problem at all, and began to walk towards the alter. Suddenly a weird energy burst forth from then gem and entered the largest of the suits of armour that lined the sanctum's walls. Darkbane and Red watched as the armour came to life and drew its sword, "So a hero has come to claim the Heart at last." The armour said, electric blue light sparking out of the holes for the eyes, "but in order to prove your worth, you must defeat me."

The two dragons reacted quickly and dodged as the living armour swung down in an attempt to cut the in half. Red fired a ray of ice at the armour, freezing its foot to the ground.

The armour swung its sword down on to the ice smashing it to pieces and freeing its foot. Darkbane charged into the living suit's chest, but only cause it to take a step back and leaving Darkbane dazed. Sizing the opportunity, the armour aimed a kick at Darkbane, sending him against a wall and trust the sword deeply into the wall after him.

Inside his mind, Spyro yelled in pain as he felt a sharp pain in his side.

"Well, I guess that proves that I can still feel any pain in my body from inside here." Spyro said bitterly.

Darkbane hissed through clenched teeth as he stood up. Red had knocked the armour away from him by firing a fireball at it; Darkbane placed a hand on his side. Examining the cut, Darkbane saw that while it was nothing serious, the cut was pretty deep and was bleeding.

Red ducked and dodged as the armoured guard tired to hit him. Using the spells he learned as a Elder, Red hit the guard with lighting.

"That's it!" Darkbane said, stomping up to the two, "It is time to end this!" A ball of fire, ice and thunder appeared his hand.

"My magic may not be as strong it was the now, but it is still powerful enough to get rid of you." Darkbane threw the spell at the armour. The guard crackled with lighting as the fire and ice engulfed it.

As the guard explodes into pieces, Red stared with uncontained surprise at the amount of power in Darkbane's spell.

"And you needed my help because…?" Red said, gusting to the smouldering pile that was the guard.

"Spyro's body is not yet adapted to using magic and so my powers are not as strong as the should be." Darkbane replied, "It was only by focusing really hard and using most of my powers that my spell was able to work, but now that the Heart is mine, my powers will be ten times as powerful and then the worlds will be mine! MWHAHAHAHAHA!"

As the evil laughter filled the room, Darkbane strode to the alter, grab the Heart of Zyrax and lifted it above his head. A bright red light filled the shrine and it was at that moment Hunter and the others choose to enter.

"Spyro!" Hunter yelled, "What are you doing?",

"I'm sorry," Darkbane said, "Spyro isn't here, would you like to leave a message?"

"Who are you and what did you do to Spyro?"

"I am Darkbane Scalefire," Darkbane replied, "and I have casted a spell which, in a few days time, will permanently merged me with your friend."

"I am surprised to see you with them Gnasty." Red stated, noticing Gnasty in the group,

"I rather help these guys win then see a Sakorc-sider winning" Gnasty replied. Both Gnasty and Red raised their weapons, but Darkbane hold his hand up, "There will be a time for that later," Darkbane said, "but for now, we need to meet our new ally. Farewell for now fools!" The room filled with another bright light and when it faded, both Darkbane and Red had vanished.

**To be continued**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything except the characters I made up.

**Note:** This will probably be mostly a filler chapter, seeing as it's taking me a while to update

**A Taste of Darkness Chapter 5**

As the golem lead him and his minions to a large stone castle, Ripto wondered who was it that the golem was serving.

As they reach the door, a large orc like creature approached the golem; "I see you have brought the wizard our master has ordered you to retrieve. Korsporer" it said,

"Yes Bruteacuis. I have brought Ripto as I was commanded." The golem obviously known as Korsporer said, "Has the master returned?"

"He had just arrived with our other ally." Bruteacuis replied, leading the way. Soon Ripto found himself standing in a large hall room and sitting on the throne at the end of the room was…

"Spyro! You dare to show your face here!" Ripto yelled. The Purple Dragon smiled as he stood up and said, "You are a bit mistaken, my friend. I am Darkbane Scalefire, a powerful wizard like you. I have taken control of your nemesis' body."

"So you're the one who summoned us here?" Ripto said, indicating him, Crush and Gulp.

"Correct," Darkbane said, "despite my newly obtained powers, I'm still in need of… let's say generals, if you prefer that team." He then pointed to Red, who was standing in a corner, "As you can see I already have Red has already joined my forces, now you and your minions have the choice."

At first Ripto thought about saying no to Darkbane's offer, but then at the sight of Korsporer, he decided that might not be a smart choice, "Okay we're in".

---------------------------

Hunter, Gnasty and the others left the temple feeling confused, sad and frightened.

"What are we going to do now?" Blink asked, Agent 9 shrugged, "I don't know, but I think it's all become hopeless now!"

"Well I for one am not giving up!" Hunter said, "We've helped Spyro beat all sorts for villains and helped us all…except Gnasty Gnorce. And now the world's in danger and he needs saving, so it's time we return the favour!"

"Your right there, Hunter!" Bianca said, "After all he did for us, we can't stop now" she then turned and faced the others, "So who going to help?"

"I am!" Sparx said, "I been with Spyro through it all and I won't back out now!"

"I'm in!" Blink said,

"And me!" Agent 9 added,

Hunter nodded and looked at Gnasty Gnorc and asked, "And what about you?"

The green beast shrugged his massive shoulders and said, "Why not? Like I told Red, I'm not going to let some Sakorc-sider win"

Hunter nodded, "Alright! Let's go back to the Professor's lab and save our friend!"

The group save Gnasty, cheered and began to travel back to the Artisan home world, to gather more information and help to save the world and their friend.

**To be continued**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything except the characters I made up.

**A Taste of Darkness Chapter 6**

Returning to the Professor's lab, Hunter told Gildas what happened on Bloodthunder Mountains.

"I see," Gildas said, "This is indeed a dire misfortune. If the legends of the Heart of Zyrax is true, then this Darkbane could be unstoppable."

Hunter nodded in agreement, "That's why we need to stop him as soon as possible and make him release Spyro."

"It won't be as simple as that." Tomas, the Dragon Elder said, "Darkbane has to be a powerful wizard to be able to possess Spyro so easily and now, with the Heart of Zyrax, his powers will be greater."

"Plus, Red and the Sakorcs will be there to defend him." Gnasty added, leaning ageist one of the Professor's inventions.

"But Spyro needs us!" Sparx's buzzed, "Darkbane said that his spell will merge him and Spyro together permanently within the next few days."

"The Spell of Ultimate Merger" Tomas said, sagefully, "a powerful, yet forbidden spell. All the Dragon Elders of that time were there when the High Council of Magic decided to destroy all copies of that spell, how this Darkbane fellow got his claws on it we may never know."

After awhile Bianca asked, "If this council knows about the spell, won't they know how to break it?"

"Yeah, that's it!" Blink said, jumping to his feet, "We can go and ask the Magic Council for help!" Tomas shook his head and said, "You can't, and even if they do know, I doubt the council will help."

"Why is that?" Hunter asked,

"The Magic Council is made up of five of the greatest wizards, said to have been granted eternal life as long as the council exists." Tomas explained, "They have isolated themselves from other life in the most dangerous of lands, and even if someone ever manages to reach them, the council may choose to not listen."

""We still have to try."

Gildas nodded and said, "They're right Tomas. It's the only course of action we have." The Dragon Elder looked at him and then sighed, "Very well then. Here's what I know about the Magic Council."

--------------------

"So, it's agreed then?" Darkbane asked, looking round the table from Red to Ripto and his two minions, "You will serve me and in return, you'll each have… a modest share in ruling the lands."

Just then, Korsporer thudded into the room and approached Darkbane, "My Lord," the golem said, "the Sakorc, sent to spy on Spyro's friends have returned. They say the Heroes and the Gnorc are leaving for Midnight Mountain, apparently looking for the Magic Council."

"WHAT!" Darkbane yelled, standing to Spyro's full height.

"Apparently. Form what our spies could gather. They hope to free Spyro from your control." Korsporer finished.

Darkbane paused for a moment and then looked at Ripto, "You will stop them." The dragon said, "Take an army of Sakorcs if you have to, but I want them stopped." The short Riptoc nodded in understanding and left.

--------------------------

"They won't succeed, so stop your hoping."

Spyro turned to face Darkbane and replied, "That's what you think. My friends will stop your plans and toast your butt!"

The wizard laughed harshly and stood up, "They're nothing without you, Ripto will crush them like bugs!"

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In the Midnight Mountain of the Forgotten Worlds, Hunter, Gnasty Gnorc, Blink, Bianca and Sparx began their quest to save the world and Spyro.

"According to what Tomas told us, the Magic Council should be at the top pf the highest mountain in the Crystal Islands." Bianca said,

"I still don't get why they choose to isolate themselves in such a far away place." Blink said as he followed Hunter through the Portal to the Crystal Caverns,

"It's like what Tomas said," Hunter Replied, "The Magic Council decided that they had no place in the world or the right to make choices about it, so they choose to seclude themselves someplace hard to reach and far away."

"But the worlds are much larger then the areas we've been to on the adventures Spyro and us had, so how can we be sure they 're here in Crystal Islands?" Sparx asked, buzzing overhead.

"According to the Dragon Elder archives, when the Magic Council last called the Elders were at "the tallest mountain of the Crystallised lands". And seeing as the date of this meeting was before the Sorceress banished the dragons from the Forgotten Worlds, that concludes that they were talking about the Crystal Islands." Bianca answered.

"My, my, what a claver little rabbit you are!" a familiar voice behind them said, turning round the heroes saw Ripto.

The evil wizard was standing on top of Gulp as he usual does; the large Crush standing beside them was almost dwarfed by the collective bulk of the Sakorcs.

"Ripto!" Hunter said, "Your working for Darkbane as well?"

"He sent his servant over and made an offer I couldn't refuse." Ripto said coldly, "If you think your going to see the Magic Council, think again!" The Sakorcs then charged towards Hunter and the others.

Due to his quick reflexes, Hunter quickly began to fire arrow after arrow at the oncoming Sakorcs while Gnasty Gnorce knocked the brutish beasts away with heavy blows from his club. Meanwhile Sparx zipped left and right between the Sakorcs, spitting the fireballs he uses in his missions, while they couldn't a creature the size of the Sakorcs, they did distract them while Blink attacked them with his glove-lasers and Bianca attacked them with her magic. Ripto stayed back and watched as the Sakorcs were slowly being beating, "Crush!" he snapped at the large blue dinosaur at his side, "Do something! Get them!"

Crush nodded slightly and lumbered towards Hunter, club raised. Seeing this, Gnasty stepped in front of Crush and with a swing from his own club, sent the dinosaur flying back.

Ripto looked from the dazed Crush to the winning heroes and muttered, "I think it's time to leave." Opening a portal, Ripto left through it followed by Crush and Gulp back to Darkbane's castle.

---------------------------------

"So they beat you." Darkbane said after hearing what Ripto had to say.

"…Yes." Ripto reluctantly said, wincing at the cold glare on the face of the possessed Spyro and, much to his disgust, wishing that it were the cocky smirk that use to be on the face of his most hated foe.

"No matter." Darkbane eventually said, "Even if they do reach the Magic Council, it won't do them any good. With the Heart of Zyrax, not even the combine powers of those mystic fools can stop me now!" he then began to laugh so evilly, that it made Ripto shiver as he began to feel as if he has just meet someone more evil then himself.

**To be continued**


End file.
